Ferrari engineers now unsure 2025 F1 car ‘solution’ has helped Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc

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Ferrari have had a frustrating season with every change they make seemingly having no impact on McLaren’s dominance.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have had to watch on as their rivals have monopolised the top step of the podium this season.

McLaren have won 12 races this season, Max Verstappen has added another three victories to his impressive tally, while George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix for Mercedes.

Hamilton has broken the record for most Ferrari starts without a podium, while Leclerc has recorded five top-three finishes this year.

Ferrari made some revolutionary changes to their car over the winter break this year.

Team principal Fred Vasseur has overseen Ferrari switching to a pull-rod front suspension, meaning that they’re the only team to use pull-rod systems on both axles.

This hasn’t had the desired effect, and now, it appears one of the biggest changes Ferrari have made to try and fix this might not have worked either.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s life outside F1 from net worth to family

Ferrari engineers are now unsure about their 2025 rear suspension update

A report from Formula Uno Analisi Tecnica has shared more details about the changes Ferrari have made to their car this year.

Some of Ferrari’s changes are aimed at 2026, but that won’t give Hamilton or Leclerc much to be positive about for the rest of the season.

It takes a few races before a team know for certain whether an update has had the desired impact or not.

Ferrari updated their rear suspension at the Belgian Grand Prix in the hope that it would allow them to run their car closer to the ground.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was the prime example of Ferrari having to hamper their own performance due to the issues surrounding excessive plank wear.

Leclerc looked like he might be able to record Ferrari’s first Grand Prix win of 2025, only for increased tyre pressure in his final stint to destroy his race pace and prevent him from being disqualified.

Unfortunately, Ferrari are dealing with several issues that mean the rear suspension ‘solution’ has made ‘little sense’ when they assess its usefulness.

Ferrari engineers aren’t ‘sure’ that the highly anticipated update has had the desired impact, although it has at least widened the tuning window.

Unfortunately, it’s not fixed Ferrari’s ground clearance issue and the amount of understeer that Hamilton and Leclerc are dealing with.

Christian Horner put McLaren’s strength down to their tyre management, something that’s still creating ‘headaches’ for Ferrari despite their recent update.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

How Ferrari privately reacted to Adrian Newey turning them down to join Aston Martin

One person in the Formula 1 paddock who might be able to fix Ferrari’s issues is Adrian Newey.

Newey has turned plenty of teams into champions during his career, and after deciding to leave Red Bull, Aston Martin were the lucky team to secure his signature.

Ferrari have been linked with Newey on several occasions, but once again he ended up moving to one of their rivals.

After choosing Aston Martin, Ferrari privately sent a message to Newey, and they will hope that they don’t regret not meeting his demands too much in the future.

Newey might not have been able to immediately fix Ferrari’s rear suspension issues, but very few people are better placed to find a solution than the experienced designer.